OAKLAND, California, March 15 (Reuters) - OpenAI and

Elon Musk have agreed to fast-track a trial over OpenAI's

for-profit shift, the latest turn in a grudge match between the

world's richest person and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman playing out

publicly in court.

Billionaire Elon Musk and OpenAI jointly proposed a trial in

December, according to a federal court filing on Friday.

The parties agreed to delay a decision on whether the

expedited case will be decided by a jury or solely by the judge,

said the filing in U.S. District Court for the Northern District

of California.

The judge this month denied Musk's request to pause the

artificial intelligence group's transition to a for-profit model

but agreed to an expedited trial in the autumn, the latest turn

in the high-stakes legal fight.

"We welcome the court's March 4 decision rejecting Elon

Musk's latest attempt to slow down OpenAI for his personal

benefit," OpenAI said in a blog post on Friday.

Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 but left before

the company took off and subsequently founded the competing

startup xAI in 2023.

Last year, the CEO of Tesla and owner of the X social media

platform sued OpenAi and Altman, accusing OpenAI of straying

from its founding mission - to develop AI for the good of

humanity, not corporate profit.

OpenAI and Altman have denied the allegations, while Altman

alleges that Musk has been trying to slow down a competitor.

At stake in the lawsuit is the ChatGPT maker's transition to

a for-profit model, which the startup says is crucial to raising

more capital and competing well in the expensive AI race.

OpenAI's last fundraising round, of $6.6 billion, and a new

round of up to $40 billion under discussion with SoftBank Group

, are conditioned on OpenAI restructuring to remove the

nonprofit's control.

Friday's filing comes weeks after Altman, who has said

OpenAI is not for sale, rejected a $97.4 billion unsolicited

takeover bid from a Musk-led consortium with a "no thank you."